Release News

Joomla! 1.7 Beta1 Released

The Joomla! Project is pleased to announce the availability of Joomla! 1.7 Beta 1 for download. This is the first release made within the new six-month release cycle that started with the delivery of Joomla 1.6 in January 2011.

What is this release for?

There are several goals for this release:

To allow advance testing of sites and custom extensions so that site administrators and developers can report any problems before the final release.

To raise awareness that the end of the current development cycle is fast approaching.

What happens to Joomla 1.6?

Joomla 1.7 is the direct upgrade for Joomla 1.6. Joomla 1.6 will be supported for critical security issues only for a period of one month after the release of Joomla 1.7. After that time, only Joomla 1.5 and Joomla 1.7 will be available for download and will be supported by the Joomla project.

How can you help Joomla development?

The great news is you don’t have to be a developer to help build Joomla. The Joomla Bug Squad is one of the most active teams in the Joomla development process and is always looking for people (not just developers) that can help with sorting bug reports, coding patches and testing solutions. It’s a great way for increasing your working knowledge of Joomla, and also a great way to meet knew people from all around the world.

If you are interested, please read about us on the Joomla Wiki and, if you wish to join, email Mark Dexter.

You can also help Joomla development by thanking those involved in the many areas of the process. Since the release of Joomla 1.6, a whopping 375 issues have been fixed by the JBS. The project also wants to thanks all of the people that have taken the time to prepare and submit work to be included in Joomla 1.7, and to those that have worked very hard on the Joomla Platform separation project.

Related information

If you are an extension developer, please make sure you subscribe to the general developer mailing list as this is a place where you can discuss extension development and news that may affect custom development will be posted from time to time.

Following is a list of previous news and information about Joomla 1.7 and other sites of interest: